Heinz Walter Krohne

The concept of coping modes: Relating cognitive person variables to actual coping behavior

Abstract In the first section, a model of “coping modes” is presented which distinguishes two main classes of coping strategies: vigilance and cognitive avoidance. Vigilance is characterized by an approach to and an intensified processing of threat-relevant information. Its general purpose is to gain control over the main threat-related aspects of a situation, thereby protecting the individual from the perception of threat which would result from the confrontation with unexpected dangers. Cognitive avoidance is viewed as a withdrawal from threat-relevant information. Its general purpose is to reduce the arousal engendered by the confrontation with an aversive event. Both terms are employed to describe actual stress-related actions and cognitive operations as well as interindividual differences in the dispositional inclination toward a certain class of strategies. The second section introduces an instrument for the separate assessment of vigilant and avoidant coping. Finally, a study which demonstrates the predictive power of this instrument is reported. This study analyzes the influence of dispositional and actual vigilant and avoidant coping strategies on self-reported and biochemical stress indicators as evidenced by patients facing a surgical operation.

Relationships between restrictive mother-child interactions and anxiety of the child

Abstract The “two-process model” postulates that there are specific associations between patterns of parental child-rearing styles and the development of the childs anxiety and coping dispositions. Besides parameters of parental feedback to the child, this model considers support and restriction to be the central dimensions of child-rearing behavior. The present study aims at assessing behavioral indicators for restriction. For this purpose, the working and intervention behavior of 47 mothers and their ten- to 13-year-old children was observed and registered during a 15-minute period of common problem-solving (putting together a difficult puzzle-like cube). In order to register processes of problem-oriented cooperation between mother and child, transitional probabilities between defined state and event classes were analyzed. Based on the theoretical definition of the child-rearing style “restrictio”, hypotheses concerning the significance of variable transitional probabilities are formulated and tested r...

The Assessment of Dispositional Vigilance and Cognitive Avoidance: Factorial Structure, Psychometric Properties, and Validity of the Mainz Coping Inventory

This article reports the construction and empirical evaluation of the English adaptation of the Mainz Coping Inventory (MCI). The MCI, which is based on the model of coping modes (Krohne, 1993), is organized as a stimulus–response inventory and contains two subtests. Eight fictitious situations are presented to the participants. Four of these situations represent physical threat (subtest MCI-P) and four ego threat (subtest MCI-E). Each situation is conjoined with five vigilant and five cognitive avoidant coping strategies, thus allowing the separate assessment of the coping dispositions of vigilance and cognitive avoidance. Analyses concerning appraisals of the threat situations, factorial structure, and psychometric properties of the MCI as well as convergent and discriminant associations with coping and affect variables are presented. Results of the analyses indicate that the MCI is a reliable and valid measure of two central coping dimensions.

Stress and Coping Theories

This article first presents two theories representing distinct approaches to the field of stress research: Selyes theory of ‘systemic stress’ based in physiology and psychobiology, and the ‘psychological stress’ model developed by Lazarus. In the second part, the concept of coping is described. Coping theories may be classified according to two independent parameters: trait-oriented versus state-oriented, and microanalytic versus macroanalytic approaches. The multitude of theoretical conceptions is based on the macroanalytic, trait-oriented approach. Examples of this approach that are presented in this article are ‘repression–sensitization,’ ‘monitoring-blunting,’ and the ‘model of coping modes.’ The article closes with a brief outline of future perspectives in stress and coping research.

Relationships between time of day, day of the week, and positive mood: Exploring the role of the mood measure

This study examined the relationship between time of day, day of the week, and two measures of positive affect (PA). According to previous research and the circumplex model of affect, one scale was designed to assess the activation component of PA, and the other one measured the pleasantness aspect. Subjects rated their mood three times a day for 7 consecutive days. Consistent with our hypotheses, PA-Pleasantness showed a peak on the weekend, whereas PA-Activation remained stable throughout the week. Regarding time of day, maximum PA-Activation was reached in the afternoon. In contrast, the Pleasantness component of PA increased from morning to evening. Implications of these results as well as other findings concerning the differential content of “PA” measures are discussed regarding the fact that a certain scale is most appropriate and maximally valid for representing certain aspects of affective experience.

Coping dispositions and the processing of ambiguous stimuli.

This study examined associations between coping dispositions (vigilance, cognitive avoidance) and indicators of the processing of ambiguous stimuli. In the first phase of the investigation, 58 male participants were presented with a series of sentences that could be interpreted in a threatening or a nonthreatening fashion. The participants had to rate the unpleasantness of the events described in the sentences. Subsequently a previously unannounced recognition memory test for disambiguated (threatening and nonthreatening) variants of the sentences was carried out. Evidence based on ratings, reaction times, and recognition memory measures indicated that vigilant individuals are characterized by processing activities that favor the intake and storage of the threatening rather than the nonthreatening meanings of ambiguous stimuli. Highly avoidant nonvigilant individuals (repressers) showed a disproportionately large number of extremely delayed ratings.

The cognitive regulation of emotions: The role of success versus failure experience and coping dispositions

Attention deployment and generating specific types of cognitions are central cognitive mechanisms of emotion regulation. Two groups of hypotheses make contradicting predictions about the emotion-cognition relationship. The moodcongruency hypothesis expects the emergence of mood-congruent cognitions (i.e., negative mood leads to negative and positive mood to positive cognitions). Similarly, a substantial body of research suggests that negative mood induces selffocus, whereas positive mood elicits an external focus of attention. The moodrepair hypothesis, on the other hand, assumes that persons in a negative mood state summon thoughts incongruent with that state and divert attention away from the self. However, the temporal sequence of cognitions assessed as well as coping dispositions, such as vigilance and cognitive avoidance, may moderate these relationships. Positive and negative emotional states were elicited by exposing the participants to the experience of success or failure in a demanding cognitive task. Cognitions that were present after emotion induction were assessed by means of a thought-listing procedure. For the total sample, results clearly confirmed the moodcongruency hypothesis. Thought order was a critical factor only for changes in self-focus. Thought valence (positive, neutral, negative) as well as self-focus were substantially influenced by coping dispositions.

The State-Trait Depression Scales: An International Comparison

Equivalent English and German versions of the State-Trait Depression Scales (STDS) were developed and presented to samples of American and German students who were comparable with regard to gender and age. Factorial structure and equivalence of the two versions were determined by confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). The CFAs included multiple group analyses which were employed to compare factor patterns, loadings, factor variances and covariances across the two samples. In addition, statistical and psychometric properties of the items and scales were determined and mean differences between nationalities and genders on these scales were tested. In order to obtain information about the external validity, relationships between the STDS and tests which already exist in English and German (several depression scales as well as the State-Trait Personality Inventory, the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory, and the Mainz Coping Inventory) were analysed.

The assessment of surgery-related coping: The coping with surgical stress scale (COSS)

Abstract Surgery can be regarded as a major stressor for any patient. High preoperative emotional arousal may negatively influence adjustment during surgery as well as the postoperative recovery rate. Consequently, the strategies individuals employ for coping with this stress are of prime importance for the quality of their adaptation. This paper reports the construction and empirical assessment of a new instrument for measuring strategies employed to cope with surgical stress. Factor analysis of this instrument, the Coping with Surgical Stress Scale (COSS), yielded five factors: Rumination, Optimism and Trust, Turning to Social and Religious Resources, Threat Avoidance, and Information Seeking. Internal consistencies of the corresponding subscales were satisfactory. Results concerning external relationships of the COSS with dispositional coping, state and trait anxiety, and indicators of perioperative adjustment showed that the COSS is a useful instrument for measuring surgery-related coping.

Coping variables as predictors of perioperative emotional states and adjustment

Abstract Surgery, regardless of its kind and severity, can be regarded as a major stress situation for any patient. High preoperative emotional arousal may negatively influence adaptation during surgery and, consequently, rate of postoperative recovery. In a series of previous studies, our research group analyzed the influence of dispositional and actual coping on subjective and objective stress indicators before, during, and after surgery. The present study investigates the influence of the dispositional coping variables vigilance and cognitive avoidance on actual surgery-related coping, state anxiety, and indicators of intra- and postoperative adjustment. The sample consisted of 42 male and 42 female patients undergoing elective maxillofacial surgery under general anaesthesia. Dispositional coping was measured on the dimensions vigilance and cognitive avoidance with the Mainz Coping Inventory. Actual surgery-related coping was assessed by means of a newly constructed inventory containing items to measur...